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Goetz C, Behar E, Beth A, Bodewits D, Bromley S, Burch J, Deca J, Divin A, Eriksson AI, Feldman PD, Galand M, Gunell H, Henri P, Heritier K, Jones GH, Mandt KE, Nilsson H, Noonan JW, Odelstad E, Parker JW, Rubin M, Simon Wedlund C, Stephenson P, Taylor MGGT, Vigren E, Vines SK, Volwerk M. The Plasma Environment of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS 2022; 218:65. [PMID: 36397966 PMCID: PMC9649581 DOI: 10.1007/s11214-022-00931-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The environment of a comet is a fascinating and unique laboratory to study plasma processes and the formation of structures such as shocks and discontinuities from electron scales to ion scales and above. The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission collected data for more than two years, from the rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014 until the final touch-down of the spacecraft end of September 2016. This escort phase spanned a large arc of the comet's orbit around the Sun, including its perihelion and corresponding to heliocentric distances between 3.8 AU and 1.24 AU. The length of the active mission together with this span in heliocentric and cometocentric distances make the Rosetta data set unique and much richer than sets obtained with previous cometary probes. Here, we review the results from the Rosetta mission that pertain to the plasma environment. We detail all known sources and losses of the plasma and typical processes within it. The findings from in-situ plasma measurements are complemented by remote observations of emissions from the plasma. Overviews of the methods and instruments used in the study are given as well as a short review of the Rosetta mission. The long duration of the Rosetta mission provides the opportunity to better understand how the importance of these processes changes depending on parameters like the outgassing rate and the solar wind conditions. We discuss how the shape and existence of large scale structures depend on these parameters and how the plasma within different regions of the plasma environment can be characterised. We end with a non-exhaustive list of still open questions, as well as suggestions on how to answer them in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Goetz
- ESTEC, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
| | - Etienne Behar
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
- Lagrange, OCA, UCA, CNRS, Nice, France
| | - Arnaud Beth
- Department of Physics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Dennis Bodewits
- Physics Department, Leach Science Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832 USA
| | - Steve Bromley
- Physics Department, Leach Science Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36832 USA
| | - Jim Burch
- Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510 USA
| | - Jan Deca
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 3665 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO 80303 USA
| | - Andrey Divin
- Earth Physics Department, St. Petersburg State University, Ulianovskaya, 1, St Petersburg, 198504 Russia
| | | | - Paul D. Feldman
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA
| | - Marina Galand
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ UK
| | - Herbert Gunell
- Department of Physics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Pierre Henri
- Lagrange, OCA, UCA, CNRS, Nice, France
- LPC2E, CNRS, Orléans, France
| | - Kevin Heritier
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ UK
| | - Geraint H. Jones
- UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT UK
- The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT UK
| | | | - Hans Nilsson
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, 981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
| | - John W. Noonan
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719 USA
| | - Elias Odelstad
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Martin Rubin
- Physikalisches Institut, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Cyril Simon Wedlund
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6, 8042 Graz, Austria
| | - Peter Stephenson
- Department of Physics, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2AZ UK
| | | | - Erik Vigren
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 537, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sarah K. Vines
- Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723 USA
| | - Martin Volwerk
- Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstr. 6, 8042 Graz, Austria
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Abstract
This paper presents an overview of the current status of the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) e-infrastructure, including the current status of the VAMDC-connected (or to be connected) databases, updates on the latest technological development within the infrastructure and a presentation of some application tools that make use of the VAMDC e-infrastructure. We analyse the past 10 years of VAMDC development and operation, and assess their impact both on the field of atomic and molecular (A&M) physics itself and on heterogeneous data management in international cooperation. The highly sophisticated VAMDC infrastructure and the related databases developed over this long term make them a perfect resource of sustainable data for future applications in many fields of research. However, we also discuss the current limitations that prevent VAMDC from becoming the main publishing platform and the main source of A&M data for user communities, and present possible solutions under investigation by the consortium. Several user application examples are presented, illustrating the benefits of VAMDC in current research applications, which often need the A&M data from more than one database. Finally, we present our vision for the future of VAMDC.
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